St. Vincent's College Cape Girardeau
St. Vincent's College, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, was founded in stages between 1838 and 1843. It was the first college founded specifically for lay students by the Western Province of the Congregation of the Mission. Full college status was established in 1843 after the State of Missouri recognized it as an institution of higher education. Although St. Vincent's had been established as a lay college, by the 1850s it started to become a mixed seminary/college. Over the next four decades the college acted as two separate institutions with parallel programs until in 1893 the seminary department was transferred to Kenrick Seminary in Saint Louis, Missouri. In 1910, the province designated Saint Vincent's College an "apostolic school" for high school students who were also candidates for the Vincentian community. Eventually, dwindling enrollment forced the province to close the school in 1979. When the high school closed, the mission of St. Vincent's College was reexamined and changed from a preparatory seminary to a center for evangelization. The Evangelization Center continued to host retreats and other religious activities until 1989 when it was no longer deemed economically feasible. The property was sold to Southeast Missouri State University in 1998.
